Raising taxes isn't just an issue in this year's federal election, it is also shaping up to be a big issue in next year's mayoral election. Just ask presumptive candidate Bill de Blasio. The public advocate yesterday came out swinging with a proposal [PDF] to raise income taxes on all New Yorkers who make more than $500,000 so that the city can pay for pre-K for all kids, as well as offer more after school programs. Our billionaire mayor's response to the idea? "He wants to drive everybody out of the city."
The gist of de Blasio's "Starting Early, Learning Longer" platform is that New York needs to be training a strong next generation of workers, and the best way to do that is to get kids in the habit of going to school early and often. But that costs money. So he is calling for an increase in NYC income tax on earners over $500,000 from 3.86 percent to 4.3 percent. In other words, if you make $1 million (lucky you!) you would be paying about $2,120 for the initiative. According to de Blasio, that could bring in a total of $532 million in new revenue to the DoE.
De Blasio now plans to put his proposals to Bloomberg, but it is highly unlikely that hizzoner will be signing anything like it. After blasting the proposal to reporters yesterday—saying that the public advocate wants to tax "anything and everything"—Bloomberg added "in a sarcastic tone" that "that’s O.K. He’s a good guy."
In the meantime, the 2013 campaign finally feels like it is starting to heat up, eh?
